In an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system, toner can be replenished by replacing a toner cartridge. There is a so-called genuine toner cartridge (or more generally “genuine product”), which is manufactured by a manufacturer of the image forming apparatus or a manufacturer relating thereto and has performance characteristics that match characteristics of the image forming apparatus. There is also a so-called non-genuine toner cartridge (or more generally “non-genuine product”), which is provided by a third party or the like.
The genuine product and the non-genuine product often have different performance characteristics. An image forming apparatus of one type determines whether the genuine product or the non-genuine product is attached, and performs a different image forming control to achieve a better print quality. This image forming apparatus starts processing for the attached toner cartridge after determining whether or not the attached toner cartridge is the genuine product. This processing to determine whether or not the toner cartridge is the genuine product is a large burden for a processor.
In addition, there may be plural types of genuine products, and when plural types of toner cartridges are selectively attached despite whether it is the genuine product or the non-genuine product, the same problem as described above may occur.
If plural types of attachment units are attachable to an electric apparatus, the same problem as described above may occur in the electric apparatus, whether the electric apparatus is or is not an image forming apparatus.
For the above reasons, it is desirable to suppress an influence of the processing to determine the type of an attachment unit on a control of an operation performed by using the attachment unit.